Santos dispatches Bragantino and returns to the Paulista final after eight years – 03/27/2024 – Sport

After three consecutive editions in which they were eliminated in the first phase of the Campeonato Paulista, Santos became this Wednesday (27) the first club qualified for the final of this year’s edition. The club had not advanced to the decision since 2016, when they were champions.

The Baixada Santista team beat Red Bull Bragantino in the semi-final, with a 3-1 victory, in a match played at the Neo Química Arena, in Itaquera, where the black and white club played as the home team and had an audience of 44,804 people.

The victory of Fábio Carille’s team was achieved in the first stage, when the black and white team took a 2-0 lead, with goals from Joaquim Henrique, in the eighth minute, and Guilherme, close to stoppage time, in the 45th minute.

After the break, former Santos player Eduardo Sasha scored a discount in the sixth minute, but Giuliano scored in the 18th minute and stopped the Bragança Paulista team’s chances of reacting. Before the end, the Vila team even had a player sent off, when full-back Hayner received a red card in the 38th minute for a foul on Talisson.

Now, Santos will await the winner of the clash between Palmeiras and Novorizontino. The duel will take place this Thursday (28), at 9:35 pm, at Allianz Parque.

In addition to crowning the good campaign in the state competition, the place in the decision could represent an important milestone in Santos’ search for a necessary restructuring. The club started the year under pressure after having been relegated in the Brazilian Championship for the first time in its history in 2023 and precisely because of this it saw Paulista as a kind of laboratory to reformulate its squad.

The performance throughout the tournament, however, made Carille’s team start to aim for bigger goals and the fight for the title became an achievable goal, something that was very far from the club’s reality in 2021, 2022 and 2023, when not even the The team passed the group stage — with 25 points, Santos had the second best campaign in the first phase, only behind Palmeiras, who had 28.

It was in the state competition, in fact, that the Baixada club experienced its last joy, in 2016, when it won the title after beating Audax in the decision. After that, Santos began to experience a lack of trophies. With qualification for this year’s final, fans hope that this drought is close to an end.